A talk with Herbie Hancock about his 50-year career in 15 minutes seems hard.

Yet the 73-year-old jazz pianist ably and warmly jumps among various notes of his extensive
resume — much like his celebrated, genre-hopping catalog.

Among familiar tunes: the widely covered
Watermelon Man; the slick
Cantaloupe Island (sampled in a crossover hit by the band Us3); and the spacey
Rockit, the 1983 Grammy winner still synonymous with the origins of break dancing and
hip-hop.

The former child prodigy who developed under Miles Davis and defined the contemporary “post-bop”
sound isn’t much for labels.

“I’m not trying to copy some formula,” Hancock said.

In recent years, he has tapped pop artists ranging from Pink to Paul Simon for various projects
while maintaining a bridge between his past and the future.

On Tuesday, Hancock’s quartet will kick off the 2013-14 season at the McCoy Center for the Arts
in New Albany.

He spoke recently from Los Angeles.

Q: With more than 100 albums under your belt, how do you pick a set list?

A: There are some pieces, my most popular ones, that the audience generally wants
to hear. I can play a mixture of, say, two or three — maybe not develop them fully but just enough.
I like it when they want more.

Sometimes what I do is start with pieces they’re familiar with but in arrangements they’re not.
Some segue into a whole other piece they’ve never heard ... and then have elements of that new song
shape re-entry into that first piece.

Q: Much like the improvisational backbone of jazz, right?

A: Yeah, absolutely. I love doing that. I’m not always motivated to shape the
music in a way to kowtow to public tastes.

That’s not why I got into jazz in the first place. If I wanted to make money, I would have been
an engineer.

Q: You did study engineering in college. How does it compare?

A: It was my first major for two years. I got my degree in music. There is a
relationship between math, science and music. I don’t mean just because today computers are used
for recording and software and apps.

Even in acoustic music, rhythm is done with fractions. We have quarter notes, eighth notes,
thirty-second notes, whole notes. That’s math terminology. The harmonic structure of chords has a
relationship to physics.

What’s behind music is science. What’s behind the creation of music — it’s not created by
robots; it comes from human feeling.

Q: Some might argue that Rockit could be the byproduct of robots, no?

A: No, not at all. The reason I went in that direction was because I liked the
sound of (record) scratching. Hearing that turntable used in a rhythmic way; that was a new
sound.

I had no idea it was going to catch on like it did. Who knew?

When I had my most avant-garde band, we might put two rocks together to make a beat.

Q: How do you approach performances now versus during your youth?

A: I have a lot more confidence. I have more things to draw from — not only in the
playing of the arrangement but also in how I might do a solo. I’m not trying to play a piece the
way I played it when I was 28. (Laughs.) I’m not 28 anymore.

There’s a mental difference. Part of what I’ve learned to play is shaped by my experiences in
life, my travels throughout the world.

Q: Beyond the tour, what’s next?

A: In February, I’m temporarily moving to Boston. I’ve been given what’s called a
Norton professorship at Harvard.

I hope to restart working on a new record in the spring. I want to work with some young people
doing cutting-edge stuff — not necessarily jazz musicians.

Flying Lotus (a rapper and producer) is one. And there’s a guy named Beardyman from England. To
say he’s a beatbox guy would give a very limited impression. He makes sounds with his body — a
one-man show.